Off-label intravitreal brolucizumab for recalcitrant diabetic macular edema: A real-world case series

To report the efficacy of intravitreal injection (IVI) of brolucizumab for recalcitrant diabetic macular edema (DME) in a real-world setting.

This was a single-center, prospective uncontrolled non-randomized case series. Three eyes with recalcitrant DME, who have received a minimum of ten intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections, underwent IVI brolucizumab and were followed-up for minimum of 16 weeks. Patients underwent best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, ophthalmic examination, and optical coherence tomography at baseline and all the scheduled follow-up visits (Weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16). All three patients demonstrated notable improvement in BCVA and reduction in the fluid on SD-OCT lasting up to week 12. At week 16, all three eyes maintained the visual acuity gains. However, early increase in fluid was noted in all the three cases, for which second dose of IVI brolucizumab was planned. No ocular or systemic adverse events were noted in any of the cases.

In this real-world case series, treatment with IVI brolucizumab exhibited excellent visual acuity outcomes lasting up to 16 weeks for the treatment of recalcitrant DME. Single dose IVI brolucizumab achieves good anatomical improvement based on SD-OCT persisting up to 12 weeks, followed by early recurrence of fluid at week 16. The results did not show any ocular or systemic safety concerns for IVI brolucizumab.